An ad hoc coalition of some 50 forced-birther groups are lobbying to get an Obamacare stabilization bill amended so that federal funding in the tax bill being voted on today isn’t given to health plans that cover abortion. The stabilization bill is expected to be part of the tax bill. Jessie Hellmann at The Hill reports:
Led by the Susan B. Anthony List, the groups are pressuring lawmakers to vote against the bill, sponsored by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), that would reimburse insurance companies for giving discounted deductibles and copays to low-income customers.
These subsides are called cost-sharing reductions, and ObamaCare already states that this funding can't go toward plans that cover abortions.
But anti-abortion groups have long argued the existing language isn't strong enough and are asking that the bill be changed to include the Hyde amendment, which bans federal funding from covering abortions.
Another stabilization bill is co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida. It would provide $4.5 billion in federal reinsurance dollars during 2018 and 2019 to reduce insurance premiums by compensating insurers for patients who cost them the most. Vox noted last month that Collins' view is that this money would mitigate the impact of a 10 percent increase in premiums because healthy people would be forced out of the market without the mandate. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that number at 13 million.
You can bet that Republicans will be eager to add the Hyde Amendment ban. But if they succeed, will Collins, one of the few pro-choice Republicans in Congress, change her mind again about how she votes on the tax bill? A key reason Collins dumped on her constituents by choosing to vote for the tax bill is because she secured promises from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that there will be votes to include the stabilization bills as amendments to the tax bill.
We’ll see whether her deal with the smarmy McConnell was worth the price. If the forced-birthers get their way and Republicans vote to add the Hyde Amendment provisions to the stabilization bills, we’ll learn if her pro-choice credentials are stronger than her willingness to shaft her fellow Mainers by voting for the overall tax bill, her party’s latest attack in the class war.